Electric vest or full jacket liner

[Susan07]

Originally Posted by adlowe

Good for you. Is it a competition now?

Seems to me toadshoney asked for input on vest versus jacket for electric gear and now he's being lectured on ways to do without what he wants and maybe even having his manhood challenged.

Maybe that's just my take on it.

Phfffffffft. You're...one of THOSE kind of people eh?

No...I was just trying to give alternatives to what to wear and qualify, for him, by explaining how and under what conditions I ride.

[adlowe]

Originally Posted by Susan07

No...I was just trying to give alternatives to what to wear and qualify, for him, by explaining how and under what conditions I ride.

Well, sorry if I overreacted. Your post had 9 sentences, 5 prominently featuring "I" and 2 featuring "my". Makes it seem like it was all about you.

Not to direct this entirely toward you, but why would someone who eschews electrics even open a thread asking for advice on choosing between two electric options?

[93gc40]

Originally Posted by toadshoney

With the morning temps down to 30 deg and below, I am starting to seriously consider electricly heated liners.

Has any one used both a vest and a full jacket liner that can speak to any advantage one has over the other? I realize the sleeves in a full jacket are heated as well as the core, does it make a difference?

Thanks

Dean

Winters here are FOGGY and morning 25-35 degs. Most day I where my Leather Jacket, it does have full removable insulated liner, and chaps. I have an electric, gloves, vest and chaps liner that I will layer as needed for weather. I carry the electric stuff in the saddle bags from Novemebr to February, just in case. Sometime it might be in the 60-70s when I leave in the house but it might be in the 30's when the sun goes down. So even if I leave just wearing a t-shirt I can be warm.

[woodboats]

I am impressed what you cold climate riders do to keep riding for as long as you can!
Well done.

[squidchief]

To the OP ... and others.... Help me out with my ignorance of the problems with cold weather riding. I read here where people are wearing two, three pairs of pants, multiple jackets, plugging themselves in etc. and I guess I'm missing something somewhere. Maybe it's the definition of cold. I won't ride when it's below freezing or I see frost on the road in the morning, but that's more because of my aversion to sliding more so than anything else. I see the OP was saying cold was getting through his (I'm assuming... sorry if I'm wrong) leather jackets. Please don't take my questions wrong... but is it a "good" leather jacket? Same question to those others who say they really have to bundle up and still are requiring more... how is the cold getting in? Doesn't wearing all those layers of clothes get in the way of operating your bike? Make you too stiff? Seems to me it would take away from your manueverablility. Friends of mine who ride all year long wear one piece suits, but from what I understand they're pretty high dollar. Seems to be worth it though.
Another question. This electric stuff... does it plug in somewhere on the bike or is it powered by batteries?
Lastly, My gear always seems to keep me warm, but not my helmet. Anything under 40 or so I get the brainfreeze, no matter what kind of skullcap I wear and I've had my breath freeze on the inside of my facemask requiring me to constantly be flipping my shield up to scrape ice. How do you handle that?

[MinnesotaGreg]

One advantage of the full length sleeve (Gerbing) is it has ports if you would ever want to add heated gloves.

I use the full sleeved gerbing liner and it works well, but my hands are cold and this is on my bike with full fairing.

To squidchief - quality of the leather jacket doesn't matter much, its the vacuum created as driving down, the air gets sucked out of your jacket/pants/etc. So if you can seal up around your neck, waist, and wrists, it helps. Yes, too much clothing too stiff. Electric stuff, it comes with a length of fused wire to run to your battery. I ended up installing a fuse panel on the tool kit door to run a bunch of junk, just be sure to check how many watts you're pulling compared to the bikes alternator capacity.

Before and after fuse panel pics shown below.

[MikeB]

Lastly, My gear always seems to keep me warm, but not my helmet. Anything under 40 or so I get the brainfreeze, no matter what kind of skullcap I wear and I've had my breath freeze on the inside of my facemask requiring me to constantly be flipping my shield up to scrape ice. How do you handle that?

You have to think great thoughts, because neural activity is energy-intensive and generates a lot of heat in your brain. Seriously.

But other than that I can't be much help. Of all my body parts that can (and do) get chilled my head is never on the list. Since your helmet has an expanded polystyrene liner it is effectively a Coleman ice chest that should keep your brain's heat in equally as well as a cooler keeps heat out. If drafts around your face are the problem I would suggest something like the NOJ Quiet Rider shroud that blocks incoming air. It won't help with the fogging problem, though -- just the opposite.

[squidchief]

great thoughts... that's it then Mike??? Hmmm, and all along I thought if I stayed angry it would produce the heat! Greg, the reason for my question is when I'm just wearing leathers.. jacket and chaps.. I'm generally warm enough in cold weather. Now as you said, I do wear a good neck gaiter and neckerchief and that tends to do the trick. I agree with your needing good gloves also. I've read people wearing surgical gloves under regular gloves and that never made any sense to me as I have found that only by wearing good leather gauntlet style gloves can one prevent that chilling cold wind to go up your sleeves.
Mike, my head itself stays warm enough, it's that dang spot right in the middle of the forehead that gets the brainfreeze... just like when knocking back that super sized slurpee does. wearing an underarmour head wrap helps a bit, but so far nothing help with the freezing breath inside the shield. I guess I'll just keep the bike parked when it's that cold and just drive one of my other vehicles!

[MikeB]

Hmmm...how about those small chemical heat packs like hunters use in their socks, etc.? Stick one over your forehead's cold spot -- and then you don't have to do any thinking at all.

[squidchief]

Originally Posted by MikeB

Hmmm...how about those small chemical heat packs like hunters use in their socks, etc.? Stick one over your forehead's cold spot -- and then you don't have to do any thinking at all.

No thanks on the heat packs!!! I'd rather try your energy-intensive causing neural activity gig... maybe run some porn scenes through.

I'm waiting for someone to pop up and say they wear a one piece snowmobile suit during the winter... or are those electric also?
Last question for the electric folks. For long rides, is there some kind of thermostat or won't they get kind of warm after a while?

I still say that if I could get some kind of warm defroster blowing into my helmet I'd ride until there was ice on the road, but all the layers and clothes in the world won't keep my faceshield from freezing from the inside.